1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure is generally directed to reusable drinking containers, and more particularly to a personal drinking container employing a re-usable and/or replaceable water filter.
2. Description of Related Art
Personal drinking containers are known in the art and can have a strap or tether to retain a cap assembly on the bottle of the container. Some cap straps can provide dual functions. The straps both retain the cover or cap assembly connected to the bottle and can create a finger hold or belt loop for carrying the container. Some known straps are quite stiff and are configured and arranged in such a way that keeps the cap positioned close to the mouth of the bottle when removed from the mouth. As a result, the cap can interfere with drinking from and refilling of the bottle. Such a cap must typically be manually held away from the user's face by one hand in order for a user to drink from the beverage container opening or to refill the bottle. Other known straps are limp or soft and completely flexible. The cap tethered by such a strap must still be held out of the way because the cap can freely swing about or dangle and interfere with drinking or refilling.
Some known drinking containers have bottles made of a resilient flexible material, such as polyethylene or polypropylene. Many of these flexible bottles make use of a one-way drinking spout configured to allow the user to squeeze the bottle repeatedly to dispense the contents. Many of these bottles, once squeezed, do not rebound very quickly. Significant return air flow is thus required through the drinking spout to aid in bottle rebound. Other bottles are made of a more rigid material, such as polycarbonate, stainless steel, aluminum, or PVC, and cannot be squeezed. Many of these types of bottles require the user to drink from the wide mouth opening of the bottle or through a straw. Liquid is dispensed from this type of bottle via gravity through a wide mouth opening or by suction through a straw type device.
Consumers purchase large amounts of bottled water in the U.S. and worldwide. Reasons given for such purchases are: taste, convenience, cold water temperature, consistency, safety, and/or as a healthier option to tap water or public water sources. Such consumer purchases produce a massive amount of plastic waste, much of which never gets recycled but instead ends up in landfills or simply polluting the environment. Bottled water is also extremely expensive in comparison to no cost public source options. However, many consumers simply believe bottled water tastes better. A number of companies offer water filtration options to improve the taste of conventional tap water as well as to purify tap water. Many of these options involve mounting a filtration system to a tap faucet or storing a pitcher or jug with a filter in one's refrigerator. However, these solutions are not portable.
Users may require or simply wish to fill or refill a bottle when away from a reliable source of potable water. There are several known water bottles configured to include a filtration system or replaceable filter. Some portable water filtration systems, though “portable” and/or “replaceable” may not be easily and quickly used “on the go.” Some require that the water be manually pumped through a filter to a temporary storage container before dispensing for drinking. Others have a charcoal filter that can be employed to filter water within the bottle. These types of filters often deposit larger chunks of filter media, such as charcoal grit, and/or much smaller “fines” of the filter media, such as charcoal fines, into the filtered water reservoir or the stream of water to be consumed. Many of these solutions offer very good filtering capability for purifying non-clean water sources. However, the devices can make dispensing water from a filtered reservoir difficult by requiring pumping or excessive dispensing force.
Consumers also may not be certain when a filter medium should be replaced. Virtually all filter media will eventually reach a point where its filtering capability is spent. The filter media when spent will either no longer function to filter out the desired chemicals and contaminants or at least become increasingly less effective in doing so.
Additionally, the filter media and structure of a filter assembly may inhibit or decrease the free flow of water when dispensed from the bottle. Some application of positive pressure is typically required to dispense water from a personal filtration bottle. It typically requires a relatively large amount of force or pressure to pass water through a filter media. Finer or denser filter media may typically provide better filter performance, but will likely degrade bottle performance and the overall drinking experience for many or most users. The bottle can be much more difficult to squeeze when dispensing liquid because of the significant pressure that is required to force liquid through the filter media. Further, the filter construction and media can inhibit the return air flow back into the bottle once water is dispensed from the bottle. The bottle may not spring back or bounce back very quickly when squeezed because air cannot readily reenter the bottle through the filter media to replace the void left by dispensed liquid. Each of these problems can lessen the positive drinking experience for the user.
Another problem with filtered containers of this type is encountered when refilling the bottle. Refilling typically requires that the filter first be removed. Many filters are attached to the cap, which must be removed to refill the bottle. The filter and/or cap may be placed on a surface near the refill water source. The filter can become contaminated if not placed on a clean surface when doing so. Alternatively, the user can hold the filter and/or cap while refilling the bottle. Holding the filter and cap can be cumbersome and may inhibit the use of one hand during refilling.